They're Kind Of Crazy
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day seven hundred and thirty-three: Lucy spent many afternoons observing the Glee Club from the sidelines.


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 34th cycle. Now cycle 35!_

* * *

><p><strong>YEAR TWO ANNIVERSARY CYCLE!<strong> - It's now been two years since I've started this Gleekathon, and like last year I'm dedicating the cycle to commemorating my 21 favorite one shots or chapter stories from year two (up to the point where I did the planning ;)) A number of those I was very attached to, but left sad to see may have fallen through the cracks, so it seems fair they should get a second shot ;)

Last year there were three categories, but this year I've added two new ones: **Prequel**, **Sequel**, **POV Swap**, and now **Alternate Ending**, and **Additional Scenes**. In no particular order... **Today's story** is a Prequel to #560 "Two Guitars & a Song" _an Artie/Lucy series story originally posted on May 4th 2011._

* * *

><p><strong>"They're Kind of Crazy"<br>Lucy, Lucy/Artie  
>Extra to the series <strong>

Lucy Collins had been doing her own thing. She had her guitar but no 'affiliations.' It wasn't as though she refused it, like she was better than everyone, it just happened that way, or… After Stella's accident, everything that had come of it, she would just try and spend more time with her, so this didn't leave a lot of time for other things. This was alright with her… Stella just mattered more.

But then at the beginning of the year, things had changed. She heard talk of how one of the girls from the Jazz Ensemble, one of their guitarists, had graduated and they were seeking someone to fill her spot. At first she wasn't even thinking about going for it, still focused on her little sister, but… Stella was getting better, adjusting, at least a little… Maybe she could do this for herself. She did kind of want to… secretly… inwardly… So she'd auditioned, and within days she had been selected.

She knew a great part of what the band did was to back up Glee Club. She didn't really have an opinion on them. Everyone was apparently hell bent on hating them, but she wasn't in the habit of letting others decide how she felt about anything. Still when she stepped into that room the first day, she didn't know what to expect… like they would be walking on their hands, throwing things…

They looked normal, actually, for the most part. She knew a lot of them from this class or that one. She figured it would all just be very normal, and everyone else was blowing things way out of proportion. And then rehearsal began…

Every once in a while, something would happen and it was like she'd stepped on some platform, been spun around, and then entered bizarro world. All the relationship drama, and the betrayals, and the fights over songs or choreographies… good dancing, bad dancing, good singing, bad singing… It was entertaining though, and if she spoke honestly… it looked like fun.

Her thoughts on them weren't too set until she got to know him… Artie… He was close with the band, which she came to find out over time. She'd be lying if she said she hadn't paid any semi-particular attention to the fact that he was in a wheelchair… like her little sister. She felt bad about thinking about it like this, but… he looked okay to her… She always worried about Stella, about her coping and adjusting to her new situation in life. And now here was this boy, like her, and…

And he made her laugh sometimes. She wasn't a complete shut in, but her history with boys, and dating, was as pathetic as they came. She'd had one serious boyfriend, and it had ended… In Glee Club manners, she might have been incited to belt out Carrie Underwood's "Before He Cheats…"

Artie was a good sort-of-friend to have. She didn't really think of him as anything more, especially since he had a girlfriend… She knew what it felt like to get cheated on, and she wouldn't have wanted to put Brittany through that, especially once she got to know her… She was weird, but she was nice...

There had been one time when she'd thought about it… what it would be like to be one of them… to take a step forward, breaking from the ranks of the band to join them. One foot in front of the other, and it'd be there… A chance, a… a risk… Why not? What was the worst that could happen? Well, she could make a complete fool of herself, for one. She did sing, sometimes… alone in her room with her guitar, never in front of anyone except maybe her sister. And dancing… well, better not even go into it…

But that didn't change the fact that she'd felt something like envy for a more 'gleeful' life at one point. She loved being in the band, of course she did… When it came to their backing up of Glee Club though, standing behind them while they took the stage wasn't exactly what it was cracked up to be. She thought it over, but then… changing things up would have meant taking the spotlight… It could make a girl like her decide that keeping to the back wasn't so bad.

One day, she had been bound for the Glee Room to help Artie work on his duet with Brittany, along with the rest of the band, when Tony, their drummer, had come and told them he'd just heard how Artie and Brittany had broken up. Little by little Lucy had come to understand what this meant for rehearsal – they weren't going to bother showing up. She wanted to tell them they should still go, but she wasn't sure they'd see it the same way, and even if they'd welcomed her among them, she was still 'the new girl' in the band, and she didn't want to push it. So she'd decided that left her one option: she would go to the Glee Club room to wait for Artie, to let him know about the rest of the band.

Showing up there, to the empty room, Lucy took a seat, taking up her guitar rather than sitting in silence. She didn't know what she would tell Artie when he showed up… if he showed up… Maybe he wouldn't come… she wouldn't blame him… But then maybe he would show up, and if that was the case then he shouldn't have to show up to an empty room.

As she waited, Lucy knew there was one question she wasn't answering, and the more time she had to reflect on it, the harder it was to ignore that question… Why was she here? No one would give second thought to her doing just like the rest of the band and not showing up, but she hadn't done that. Maybe it was just her being nice, but… that wasn't it. If it had been anyone else, she… Oh…

Before she could consider the idea that her heart might be thrumming for one Artie Abrams, there he'd come rolling in, and she had something like two, three seconds tops to fix her features again and not let any of this show for him to see. She'd been burned before, and she wasn't looking forward to taking things too far, too fast… She could deal, at the very least, with being a good friend to him…

THE END

* * *

><p><strong>AN: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.  
><strong>**In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are  
><strong>******always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!******


End file.
